


Oh my Brother I'd Follow You

by TerraYoung



Category: The Librarians (TV 2014)
Genre: F/F, Gen, Librarians Fic Week, POV Second Person, POV character death, aroace!Jenkins
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-26
Updated: 2015-07-26
Packaged: 2018-04-11 06:50:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,127
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4425539
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TerraYoung/pseuds/TerraYoung
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"You laugh when a messenger from Camelot arrives to talk to your brother....It’s not that you think Galahad can’t be or do or become everything a Knight of the Round Table needs, it’s just that for all you’ve heard about the other Knights, you’ve never heard anything about them being…people. You’ve only heard about their heroics, as if they were born as fully-formed legends. And you’re pretty sure that’s not the case for Galahad – he’s too human to be a legend already."</p><p>Eleven moments between Galahad and Alys - from before Camelot to after.<br/>Based upon drabble "229. Birthday" from Snippets from the Library, though you don't need to have read that first.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Oh my Brother I'd Follow You

**Author's Note:**

> Took me all week, but I've finally got a fic for Librarians Fic Week!  
> There are some discrepancies from "canon" Camelot, though hopefully none that will distract from the story. Additionally, Dulaque and Jenkins - or Lancelot and Galahad in this case - aren't father and son, as (sorta) confirmed by John Rogers, nor are they related period for purposes of this fic.

 

 

1.

You laugh when a messenger from Camelot arrives to talk to your brother. You’ve heard plenty about the Knights of the Round Table – they’re oh so good, noble, and mighty. They slay dragons and fell giants, and then swap stories until their glorious celebratory feast grows cold.

It’s not that you think Galahad can’t be or do or become any of that, it’s just –

You’ve helped him hide in the trees from the neighbors’ kids because half of them are in love with him and the other half hate his guts. You know that the first time he picked up a sword he immediately dropped it and broke a toe. He slurps his porridge, snores louder than thunder, and tries to trick you into doing his chores when he’d rather be doing anything else.

It’s not that you think Galahad can’t be or do or become everything a Knight of the Round Table needs, it’s just that for all you’ve heard about the other Knights, you’ve never heard anything about them being…people. You’ve only heard about their heroics, as if they were born as fully-formed legends. And you’re pretty sure that’s not the case for Galahad – he’s too human to be a legend already.

But who knows. Maybe those Knights were once like your brother – not the first thing that comes to mind when you think of potential heroes. If so, he might just fit right in.

…Hopefully, Galahad won’t forget about you along the way. It doesn’t seem like legends have time for families.

 

 

2.

Galahad ends up asking you to come along with him to Camelot – he says he doesn’t want to be separated from his only remaining family.

(Well. What he _actually_ says is that he doesn’t trust you to not get into trouble without him. But you know what he was trying to say.)

It takes you two seconds to say yes – you don’t trust him by himself either.

 

 

3.

You don’t get a chance to talk to Galahad for a week after your first day in Camelot. Sometimes you pass him on the way to or from the dining hall and you see him during a sword fighting spar once, but that’s it. You can’t catch Galahad in his room because he’s only ever in there to sleep.

(And he snores too loudly to ever have a chance of waking him up.)

So you resort to… _slightly_ drastic measures.

It doesn’t take much effort to find the training area luckily enough. The trouble is in getting inside – no women are allowed in unless you’re Queen Guinevere or one of the few female Knights – and then finding Galahad once you’re in there.

You’re contemplating knocking out one of the squires and stealing his clothes when a tall man with kind eyes taps you on the shoulder and asks what you’re doing there. You almost walk away without speaking, but decide to take a risk and tell the man the truth. He nods, makes a “follow me” gesture, and heads towards the training area.

No one stops you. Whoever this man is, he’s important enough that the “no women” rule apparently doesn’t apply to anyone walking with him. Maybe he’s Lancelot – from all the stories you’ve heard he seems to be very well respected for his bravery and cleverness. Someone like that probably wouldn’t get questioned heading into the training area with a woman.

This theory holds until the man asks a Knight to find Galahad and he replies with a “Yes, Your Majesty”. …Which means that the man you’re with is actually King Arthur. Oh.

You stutter an apology and fumble a curtsy – they’re hard to do if you’ve never done one before – but _King Arthur_ just laughs it off. He’s nicer than you’d expected a king to be.

Luckily you don’t have to deal with some slight awkwardness on your part for long. The Knight soon comes running back, a confused Galahad in tow. King Arthur and Galahad talk for a bit, and then Galahad leads you over to a (relatively) quiet part of the training area.

It’s the longest conversation the two of you have had in a while.

 

 

4.

You get into a fight before your first month at Camelot is over.

It’s _technically_ not your fault – Well. It depends on what one means by “fault”. You didn’t throw any punches, but Cedric probably wouldn’t have punched you if you hadn’t kissed Maria.

(In your defense, Maria had never mentioned that Cedric was attempting to court her. You don’t blame her though – he’s definitely a jerk.)

So, you had kissed Maria in a spur-of-the-moment decision, your hand moving to cup her soft cheek.

Next thing you know you’re getting shoved back against the cool stone wall. A teen with short, greasy hair (later to be revealed as Cedric) is spitting in your face about how Maria was _his_ , not anyone else’s, to chase after. You make a joke about not knowing that women belonged to men now instead of to themselves, which results in Cedric slamming you against the wall again. This time, he puts enough force in it that you end up seeing stars.

Your head spinning, you shakily step away from the wall and away from Cedric. You try apologizing just to get him to leave you alone, but he punches you in the face instead of listening. You fall to the ground right in front of Galahad and Maria – at some point she must have left to find someone to stop the fight.

Galahad looks from you to Cedric before storming over to the teen. You’re too dizzy to make out what your brother’s saying, but you assume it’s some sort of threat due to the murderous glare he’s giving Cedric.

Maria helps you stand, though you have to lean on her for support. She whispers an apology in your ear and gives you a dark cloth to staunch your apparently bloody nose. As soon as you notice the blood your nose starts throbbing with pain.

Not long after that Galahad walks back over to you and Maria. He thanks Maria and then picks you up – one arm supporting your back and the other underneath your knees. The last time Galahad did this is when you were six and you’d broken your ankle falling out of a tree.

(It still aches when the weather gets bad.)

You protest that you’re too old to be carried, but Galahad replies that you’re too dizzy to walk on your own. Darkness is beginning to creep into the edges of your vision, so you let your brother win this fight. The last thing you feel before everything goes black is Galahad pressing a kiss to your forehead.

 

 

5.

You end up spending nearly a week in the infirmary recovering. Galahad is there every time you wake up.

(Later, you find out that he fell asleep in the chair by your bed so many times that Lancelot had to drag him to his room for a proper night’s sleep more than once.)

 

 

6.

Galahad’s going after the Holy Grail. Your stupid, idiotic, selfless brother is going on a stupid, idiotic quest for a stupid cup that might not even exist anymore. What was he thinking when he agreed to this? _Was_ he even thinking?

(You don’t discover until later how Galahad could have _died_ just trying to see if he was worthy to hold the Grail. You won’t speak to him for a few days after finding that out.)

The only consolation is that at least Galahad won’t be going alone – Lancelot, Percival, and Bors will be travelling with him. You don’t know much about Bors except for that he’s quiet and Lancelot’s youngest cousin. You do know Percival and Lancelot – the former once cheered you up in the infirmary by pulling a coin from your ear, and the latter has practically been glued to Galahad’s side since the moment they met. If it weren’t for your brother’s consistent lack of interest in…anyone, you’d start to wonder if he and Lancelot are courting.

So. You’re not happy with Galahad’s decision to search after the Holy Grail, but at least he’s in good company.

You ask – okay, demand – the other men to look after your brother, and make Galahad promise to take care of himself as well. He agrees without protest, though he does sigh while doing so.

(Emotional moments aren’t your brother’s strong suit.)

When it’s time for all of them to leave to rush forward to give Galahad a hug, clinging to him like you’re not sure if he’s coming back. Before too long he’s gently disentangling himself from the hug. Galahad makes one last promise to return as soon as possible, and heads off with the others.

Though you hear from him via intermittent letters, you don’t see Galahad again for over a year.

 

 

7.

Galahad has a beard when he, Lancelot, Percival, and Bors return. It’s so incongruent with your mental image of him that it takes you a second to recognize your own brother. Once you do you push through the cheering crowd and fling your arms around him. Galahad grunts from the force of the impact, but quickly returns the hug.

The celebration lasts through the night and into the next morning. You hardly leave Galahad’s side – you’re slightly afraid that he’ll disappear if he’s out of your sight for too long.

No matter how much you pester him, Galahad absolutely refuses to answer any questions related to the Holy Grail. Eventually he asks you, sternly but politely, to let the matter drop. Galahad only uses that tone for serious matters – like when he told you that Father was dead – so you reluctantly agree.

At some point you fall asleep because one second you’re leaning against Galahad while your eyes are sliding shut and the next Galahad’s tucking you into bed while you’re still fully-clothed. You try to say something about how you need to get up to change but it just comes out as an incoherent mumble. Galahad chuckles as he exits the room, closing the door behind him.

 

 

8.

Everything’s falling apart.

It’s hard to remember when Camelot stood for “liberty and justice” and “no one will be greater than all”. Now it seems like everyone is tearing at each other’s throats – and not necessarily metaphorically.

Mordred had seemed like a Godsend at first – a fresh, young Knight full of vigor and new ideas. Then he revealed Lancelot and Queen Guinevere’s treachery and things had just gone downhill from there.

You’re not sure how many sides there are to be on anymore. It was Lancelot vs. King Arthur, then Lancelot vs. King Arthur vs. Mordred, and then Morgan le Fay entered into the fray…

All you’re sure of is that you’re sticking with Galahad. If nothing else, you can trust him. You don’t care who your brother sides with – you just care about not going against him.

(The only thing that might convince you to side opposite Galahad is if it would ensure his survival in the inevitable upcoming battle. You’d hate to betray him, but you hate the idea of him dying even more.)

 

 

9.

Galahad is alive. Countless friends, enemies, and acquaintances have died – and you’ll be sad about many of those deaths later – but your brother has survived.

You hadn’t seen him much during the battle. You’d done your best to hang back and avoid the worst of the fighting like Galahad had made you promise to. You still did some fighting, though. Even killed a small number of people.

(This doesn’t hit you until the middle of the night a week after the battle has ended. It’s the first of a lifetime’s worth of terrible nightmares.)

Doing your best not to aggravate either of your injuries, you limp over to Galahad and hug him. He takes a second to respond but neither of you let go until a medic passes by. You’re both given stitches and an order for bed rest. It’s an order you know Galahad isn’t going to obey.

Galahad’s…different after the battle. He’s sterner – quicker to anger and slower to kindness. It’s a long time before you catch him smiling a genuine smile again. You’re never sure of what Galahad did during the fighting, but you know that it’s changed him for good.

You also know that Lancelot’s betrayal hurt your brother far more than he would ever care to admit. Whatever they were to each other, they’d certainly been close.

Together, you and Galahad move far away from where Camelot had once stood. And you stick together – you’re family, after all.

 

 

10.

It’s hard to escape Camelot’s influence – everyone in England has heard of it and the legendary Knights of the Round Table. Galahad keeps getting asked to save _this_ village or rescue _those_ children. He turns every plea down. For a while, at least.

There’s one that comes decades after Camelot’s fall. You’ve both settled down into regular lives in some backwater town. You fall in love with the local seamstress Katrina and somehow become a teacher.

(You’ve never wanted kids of your own, but they’re nice enough if they’re someone else’s. Few of your students believe your tales of Camelot.)

Meanwhile Galahad’s become a mixture of a scholar and an inventor – he spends countless hours reading and has set his hair on fire more times than you can count. Sometimes you have to make sure he stops reading or working long enough to eat.

Then one day a messenger sent by Percival rides into town. He says that Lancelot has been spotted doing…something in order to bring back Camelot. He says that Galahad’s help is sorely needed. He says that Galahad must leave soon to get there in time.

Galahad debates his decision for a long time – he comes up with an even list of pros and cons about leaving vs. staying. In the end he borrows the young blacksmith’s horse and goes to help.

You’re not that surprised by Galahad’s decision to leave. For all your brother’s grumbles and complaints over the years about his being asked to rescue people, you can tell that a part of him misses it.

He’d never admit to this, of course. If asked, Galahad would just say that he owes Percival a favor or something.

It’s a few months before Galahad returns. He tells you that Lancelot has been stopped – though not killed – but he doesn’t reveal any more details. You can tell that whatever Galahad’s keeping secret is weighing heavily on his shoulders. If he wants to tell you what that is, he will. There’s no point in pressing the matter.

Years pass.

As Katrina grows older, her memory grows weaker. It starts out with her forgetting what she came into a room for and ends with her barely being able to remember your name.

You grow frailer as time passes, though luckily your mind remains sharp. It gets harder and harder to navigate the stairs in your home, so you move in with Galahad. Despite his being eight years older than you, he never seems to have any trouble moving around.

One day you make a joke about how time seems to have treated Galahad suspiciously well – what had he done to be so lucky? – and his face just falls. You backpedal, saying that it was only a joke and to forget what you’d said. Galahad sighs and says that he owes it to you to finally tell you the truth. He’s only kept it a secret this long because he hasn’t wanted to worry you.

Apparently Galahad – along with a handful of the other former Knights – were made immortal as a result of Lancelot’s attempt at meddling with time. Lancelot had known that immortality was a potential side effect, but hadn’t cared. He’d do anything to bring back Camelot.

(In a way you kind of understand Lancelot. But only in what he wants to do, not in the particulars of how he’s trying to do it. If there was a way to bring back Katrina – and Galahad, if you were to lose him as well – you’d go to the ends of the Earth to do so.)

You’re not really mad at Galahad for keeping his immortality a secret. You aren’t pleased that he hadn’t told you this earlier, but you’re not mad. It’s impossible to be mad because if the situation were reversed you probably would have done the same thing.

Okay, maybe you’re a _little_ mad.

Regardless, you tell Galahad that you understand, and his face floods with relief. He’s still worried about _something_ , though. So you add that since he survived the eight long years before you were born, he’ll be able to survive the eight years after you die. Then the eight years after _that_ , and so on.

The only catch is that he can’t be alone. You know Galahad’s never been interested in romance, so you ask him to make friends over the years. Maybe even a family of sorts. You don’t even care if he just sticks to keeping in contact with the other Knights.

All you want is for Galahad to have someone keeping him company and reminding him to take care of himself. You won’t be around to do it yourself for a whole lot longer.

 

 

11.

You die less than a year later. Galahad stays in town long enough to attend the funeral and then leaves that night.

Over the years, a legend of sorts develops:

Every eight years a bouquet of flowers appears by a gravestone in the oldest part of the graveyard. No one knows the identity of whoever leaves them or that of who they’re for – the inscription was worn down centuries ago. All anyone knows for the longest time is that the flowers appear every eight years, they appear at the same grave each time, and it’s always the same flowers.

(Magnolias, pink carnations, forget-me-nots, dark crimson and tea roses, and mixed and yellow zinnias.)

Then one time someone stakes out the gravestone. They claim to see an older man in a nice suit walk up to the grave, lay down the flowers, and say a few words. They’re too far away to make out what he says, but it sort of sounds like he’s on the brink of tears. Then the man walks back to his car and drives away.

The next time some different people see the same man, though this time he’s not alone. It’s a varied group – two women and three men of differing ages and ethnicities. Aside from that, the man’s routine stays the same. They all leave together.

And the legend grows.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Flower meanings:  
> • Magnolia – nobility (meaning of Alys)  
> • Pink carnation – I’ll never forget you  
> • Forget-me-nots – memories  
> • Dark crimson roses – mourning  
> • Tea rose – I’ll remember; always  
> • Mixed zinnia – thinking (or in memory) of an absent friend  
> • Yellow zinnia – daily remembrance 
> 
> I purposefully didn't give many physical descriptions so readers could fill in their own, and as I don't know the racial/ethnical breakup of pre-Medieval England. Go with whatever floats your boat.  
> Percival's description is based on my fancast of Harry Anderson for the role - he once played a character who was an amateur magician (in a show also starring John Larroquette).  
> Title of the fic comes from some lyrics from the song "Brother" by Mighty Oaks.


End file.
